Going into the game at Old Trafford, Antonio Conte's table-toppers were an unstoppable force, seemingly coasting to a Premier League title. By the end of their 2-0 defeat, they looked decidedly average.

However, one new stat has now come to light which suggests there was one Chelsea player who was PARTICULARLY dreadful on the day: Diego Costa.

(Image: Getty Images)

The Spanish striker was clearly far from his best, as a running battle with Marcos Rojo seemed to distract him from the job of trying to score goals or generally attempting to play football.

In fact, Costa was so bad on the day, he kept giving the ball away… again, again and again. In total, Costa was 'dispossessed' (the term Opta use) a total of 10 times.

(Image: Shaun Botterill)

(Image: Darren Walsh)

Incredibly, before the match at Old Trafford, no Premier League player had been dispossessed more than nine times in a single game this season.

This was the three-way tie at the top of the 'treated the ball like a hot potato' table for 2016/17:

Most times dispossessed in a PL game, 2016/17

9

D Tadic (S'oton v Watford, 13 Aug)

9

J King (B'mouth v M'boro, 29 Oct)

9

W Zaha (C Palace v Chelsea, 1 Apr)

Thankfully for Josh King, Dusan Tadic and Wilfried Zaha, Costa has now leapfrogged them all, thanks to this incredible fact.

Can't imagine this will go down too well with Signor Conte…

So, against United, Costa coughed up possession more often than anyone else has in ANY other Premier League game this season.

Many Chelsea fans have complained that Costa has been underperforming in recent weeks, but even the most concerned Blues supporters couldn't have expected him to be setting record-breaking Premier League lows.